


Portions for Foxes

by Sarahastro



Series: Tales from Starfleet Academy [3]
Category: Star Trek - Various Authors, Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: F/M, Nova Squadron, Starfleet Academy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-28
Updated: 2013-10-28
Packaged: 2017-12-29 11:30:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,194
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1004908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sarahastro/pseuds/Sarahastro
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A year after the death of Joshua Albert, former Nova Squadron member Sito Jaxa struggles with life at the Academy and her feelings for her friend Nev Reoh.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Portions for Foxes

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place almost a year after the events of the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The First Duty." The characters Nev Reoh, Starsa Taran, and Jayme Miranda all come from the Star Trek novel _The Best and the Brightest_ by Susan Wright. Nev Reoh is a third-year Bajoran cadet and former Vedek. Starsa Taran is a first-year cadet from a planet called Oppalassa. Her people experience puberty later than most humanoids, so she has the innocence and impulsiveness of a ten-year-old.
> 
> The title comes from the song "Portions for Foxes" by Rilo Kiley.

_March 2369_

 

Nev Reoh and Sito Jaxa froze when they heard the door chime. "Just ignore it," he whispered. "Whoever it is will go away soon."

But instead a few seconds later, just as she was leaning down for another kiss, they heard the soft whoosh of the door opening. Reoh's first impulse was to push Jaxa off of him, but that would just leave both of them more exposed. Instead he pulled Jaxa closer to him and looked over her shoulder. "Starsa, get out!"

Starsa gave him a confused look. "I just came by to talk to you," she said. "What are you doing?"

"Starsa, please, just get out," he insisted.

Immediately after the door shut behind her, Jaxa sighed and rolled off of him. "I should go," she said. "I need to study before dinner."

"Oh. Okay." He sat up and watched her sort through the pile of discarded clothes. "Do you want to have dinner together?"

"I'm having dinner with Wes and Jean," Jaxa said. She finished dressing and started twisting and pining her long blonde hair back up. Reoh marveled at her ability to form such an elaborate hair style without a mirror. "In fact I'd better be going if I want to finish studying before then."

"What about tomorrow?"

"I have a paper due in Tactical Analysis," she said. "I'll be working on it most of the day. But you could come over and we could study together."

He sighed. They had been sleeping together for several months, but she always found excuses to avoid going anywhere with him in public. He supposed he should ask her about it, but he could never bring himself to confront her. He did not want to risk what they had, whatever that might be. "Sure."

After Jaxa left, Reoh finished dressing and went down the hall to find Starsa. He found her sitting on the floor of Jayme's room, tinkering with their quad project. From the smirk on Jayme's face, he knew Starsa had told her about him and Jaxa. Starsa, meanwhile, gave him a wounded look, and he felt guilty for yelling at her. She probably had no idea what she had interrupted.

"Hi Reoh," Jayme said. "Starsa and I were just talking about you. She said you were in your room with Sito Jaxa, wrestling naked."

His face turned beet-red as he stammered, "Sorry about yelling at you, Starsa."

"What were you doing, anyway?" Starsa asked. "And why were you naked?"

He gave Jayme a desperate look, but she was giggling awkwardly. He knew she wouldn't be any help. "We weren't wrestling," he said. "We were, uh, having sex."

"Oh." Starsa looked confused. "Are you trying to have a baby? What about the Academy?"

Jayme snorted with laughter, but Reoh ignored her. "People don't just have sex when they want to have a baby," he explained. "It's, uh, well, it's very pleasurable."

"Oh." Starsa appeared to be processing this information. "So is Sito your girlfriend?"

At least this question prompted a sympathetic look from Jayme, although she also looked curious. "We're friends," he said, "but she's not my girlfriend."

"Why not?"

Mercifully, Jayme shot her a look. "Starsa, it's none of our business," she said.

"Well Hammon and Bobbie Ray are always talking about their girlfriends," Starsa said, "but you never do. And you're so much nicer than either of them. You should have a girlfriend too."

Reoh smiled. "Thanks Starsa. So what are you two doing in here?"

"We were working on our quad project," Starsa said. "We're trying to get the proton beam more focused. It's still not narrow enough. Do you want to help? We were going to work on it for an hour or so, and then go to dinner."

Reoh nodded. It would be better to go with them then to go by himself when he would probably run into Jaxa. "Sure," he said, "just let me know what I can do."

*****

Sito Jaxa pushed the mashed potatoes around on her plate and tried to look interested as Wesley talked about a project for his advanced temporal mechanics class. A year ago she had considered the members of Nova Squad to be her best friends, but ever since the accident things between her, Jean, and Wesley had been tense. Still, they met several times a week for meals. Otherwise they had to eat alone.

"Those people over there are staring at us," Jean interrupted.

She and Wesley followed Jean's gaze to a group a few tables away where Nev Reoh sat with two women. Reoh was staring down at his food and looked embarrassed, but both of the women were looking at them, one much more subtly than the other. She recognized one of them -- the one staring at her unabashedly -- as the woman who had walked in on them earlier, and she blushed.

"That's Nev Reoh," she said. "He's a third-year cadet."

"You know him?" Wesley asked.

"Admiral Brand asked me to introduce myself and help him get settled when he first arrived," she explained. "He grew up in a Bajoran resettlement camp too."

Reoh and the two women were talking now. They were too far for Jaxa or her friends to hear them, but from the glances in their direction, she guessed they were talking about her. After a few moments, Reoh got up and came over to her table.

"Hi Jaxa," he said. "I was just wondering -- that is, my friends and I are going to the Alderban flute concert tonight, and I was wondering if you'd like to go."

She smiled stiffly and tried to avoid his sweet, hopeful gaze. "Thanks for the offer Reoh, but I have a lot of studying to do tonight."

Once he was out of earshot, Jean gave Jaxa a disapproving shake of head. "Why did you say no? You can take one night off to go to a concert."

Jaxa shook her head. "I just don't think it's a good idea."

"Do you not like him or something?"

"Of course I like him," she said. "He's very nice. He's one of the only people who will even talk to me."

For a minute it had seemed like old times with Jean chiding Jaxa about her personal life while Wesley looked both amused and uncomfortable, but Jaxa's comment made both Jean and Wesley's smiles fade.

"He sounds like a good friend," Wesley finally said.

"He is. That's why I don't want to make things uncomfortable for him." More than once she had spotted his friendly smile while holding her tray and been tempted to sit by him, but she always resisted. She couldn't bear for him to have to deal with the whispers and stares that had become part of her daily life. Still, she couldn't help watching him as he rejoined his friends. Maybe she was imagining it, but she thought he looked a little sad. The three of them talked for a moment, then the blonde girl gave him a quick hug and they left.

Jaxa tried to ignore the lump in her stomach and resumed poking her mashed potatoes. "It's better this way."


End file.
